Tyre on back to front

[steve_sordy]

I swear that I have never done this before, but my newly mounted tyre is on back to front. I haven't ridden it yet and to be honest I really can't be arsed to take it off and refit right now. It has 130ml of fresh sealant in there too. What a muppet!

It's a WTB Vigilante 29x2.6 TCS Light High Grip with TriTec compound and Slash Guard. Fitted to a 30mm inside width rim. It's on the front wheel.

I have had a close look at the tread and the centre blocks have only a slight ramp, which of course is now facing the wrong way! The outer blocks are not ramped and they do not appear to be directional, apart from the angle of the sipes of course. Take a look at the pic below. I know that on hard ground my rolling resistance will be slightly increased, but what about the braking? I will have ramps facing the ground, instead of vertical blocks. Comments anyone: safe to ride or a disaster? I know that I ought to swap it over and I definitely will, sooner or later. But should it be sooner rather than later?

 

[Zimmerframe]

It could be worse, you could have put it on inside out !

 

[Nickolp1974]

is direction of travel to the right???

 

[Tim1023]

Looks like it's much more than the ramps that are directional. If you're going near any mud, I'd change it.
Then again, I know bugger all about tyres and just use the stock ones...

 

[James_C]

if you've only just fitted it I would whip it off quick and swap it.

Once the sealant dries on the bead its a pain to get the residue off - and without doing that it won't seal on the bead I doubt.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I'm gona say that for straight line, you won't lose any acceleration traction from the block shape (it being on the front), and the extra drag from the none ramps will be off set by the removal of compression funnelling between the twin blocks. Straight line braking will be slightly improved.

As you transition, they won't dig in quite as well as the leading corners of the transition knobs are in shadow of the side knobs. So I think you'll lose a small amount of grip in the transition phase as the tyre will be every so slightly more inclined to rise over the earth rather than bite in.

Once you've got the bars down, it's going to much of a muchness ..

Personally, as others have said, especially considering what it's taken to get you to this point .. I think I'd whip it off and spin it around, no reason why you should lose the sealant. Give the rim and bead a good wipe down in the process though.

 

[steve_sordy]

is direction of travel to the right???

No to the left. They tyre is on backwards, so the ramps on the centre blocks are on the wrong side. And the sipes are leaning the wrong way too.

 

[mak]

Id swap it, while its clean, its only going to bug you, as Tim said the block lay out is also wrong as well as the ramps. To be honest I probably couldn't tell the difference either way but id still swap it lol

 

[steve_sordy]

I'm gona say that for straight line, you won't lose any acceleration traction from the block shape (it being on the front), and the extra drag from the none ramps will be off set by the removal of compression funnelling between the twin blocks. Straight line braking will be slightly improved.

As you transition, they won't dig in quite as well as the leading corners of the transition knobs are in shadow of the side knobs. So I think you'll lose a small amount of grip in the transition phase as the tyre will be every so slightly more inclined to rise over the earth rather than bite in.

Once you've got the bars down, it's going to much of a muchness ..

Personally, as others have said, especially considering what it's taken to get you to this point .. I think I'd whip it off and spin it around, no reason why you should lose the sealant. Give the rim and bead a good wipe down in the process though.

Why are you being so sensible and persuasive for a change!
What I was hoping for was for someone like @GrandPaBrogan to quote learned research that actually it's marginal at best and in some conditions better!

The weather forecast in my locale is for continuous rain for the next two weeks, except for this weekend and Monday. So I'd better get on with it!
I was going to anyway, and I wouldn't really be happy until it was right. I can imagine crowds of riders asking me why I had put the front tyre on back to front?

 

[Nickolp1974]

No to the left. They tyre is on backwards, so the ramps on the centre blocks are on the wrong side. And the sipes are leaning the wrong way too.

got ya, similar to the magic mary i installed today. it was the outer knobs that threw me!! looked like the wrong way!!

 

[cappuccino34]

I'd wager that you can't even tell the difference riding it. The blocks are tapered both ways, just one way slightly more than the other, it's not night and day.
If it was mine I'd try it and if it doesn't feel right then swap it, but don't forget that it's going to have some release agent to wear off before it attains its proper grip level anyway, before you commit to changing it round.

You just KNOW you'll end up with latex everywhere for very probably no good reason if you turn it round.

 

[#lazy]

I would swap it around before getting it dirty . I couldn’t ride knowing it’s wrong and would blame everything that wasn’t perfect on it . It might break better though !

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

Why are you being so sensible and persuasive for a change!
What I was hoping for was for someone like @GrandPaBrogan to quote learned research that actually it's marginal at best and in some conditions better!

The weather forecast in my locale is for continuous rain for the next two weeks, except for this weekend and Monday. So I'd better get on with it!
I was going to anyway, and I wouldn't really be happy until it was right. I can imagine crowds of riders asking me why I had put the front tyre on back to front?

Wait, wait, wait, wait, whoa, whoa...

So after all the gorilla tape bead removal drama... you forgot to put the tyre valve on... then you forgot to put the sealant on... then now you put the tyre on backwards? Mate, how much of the petrol rag fumes did you inhale?

OK, ok... as you wish...

Here are some quotes of learned research that might be useful:

.

 

[lumpy]

No to the left. They tyre is on backwards, so the ramps on the centre blocks are on the wrong side. And the sipes are leaning the wrong way too.

I run a Vigilante on the front of mine and the "chevron" is a reverse to what we're used to but check the arrow on the sidewall. FWIW - I love how confidence this tire gives me

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

This entire episode has had me in stitches ??

Steve you must have invested about 50 hours in this tyre project this far?!

 

[apac]

Steve,
walk away from it. Come back tomorrow. It's just some wasted sealant.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I

This entire episode has had me in stitches ??

Steve you must have invested about 50 hours in this tyre project this far?!

I'm not saying the quality of films has dropped off over the years .. well, maybe ... but I can't help but think this might be the next hollywood blockbuster !

"The T Y R E" ..... staring Brad Pitt as The thumbless wizard and James Earl Jones as the voice of "The T Y R E" ...

Famous quotes from the Movie "The T Y R E", by "The T Y R E" :

"Use Some Force, Steve, Use some Force"
"He will seal or die, Master!"
"If you will not turn to the Right Way, then perhaps she will!"
"You don't know the power of the Tyre Valve !"
"Your destiny lies with me, Rim Sealer !
"You are unwise to lower your pressures!"
"There is no air escape!
"Don't change me again"

 

[Swissrider]

If it’s any consolation I did the same on my front tyre, swopped it round and then paid real attention on the back tyre, checked, checked again and still got it wrong! So, once again I flipped the tyre, slightly comforting myself that I was getting quite good at this tubeless lark, which was new to me. Btw, Ive found that if I take the valve out, I can get the bead to seat and pop with some vigorous pumping on my track pump. If you’re quick whipping the pump off and screwing the valve in, you don’t even lose all pressure.

 

[Nicho]

I swear that I have never done this before, but my newly mounted tyre is on back to front. I haven't ridden it yet and to be honest I really can't be arsed to take it off and refit right now. It has 130ml of fresh sealant in there too. What a muppet!

It's a WTB Vigilante 29x2.6 TCS Light High Grip with TriTec compound and Slash Guard. Fitted to a 30mm inside width rim. It's on the front wheel.

I have had a close look at the tread and the centre blocks have only a slight ramp, which of course is now facing the wrong way! The outer blocks are not ramped and they do not appear to be directional, apart from the angle of the sipes of course. Take a look at the pic below. I know that on hard ground my rolling resistance will be slightly increased, but what about the braking? I will have ramps facing the ground, instead of vertical blocks. Comments anyone: safe to ride or a disaster? I know that I ought to swap it over and I definitely will, sooner or later. But should it be sooner rather than later?

View attachment 46286

There is an easy solution to your problem. All you have to do is ride like this:

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

The weather forecast in my locale is for continuous rain for the next two weeks, except for this weekend and Monday. So I'd better get on with it!
I was going to anyway, and I wouldn't really be happy until it was right.

I think you've come to a good conclusion. If anything, I admire your composure in all this.

Your tyre has shoulder treads with a particular direction/orientation which is definitely uni-directional. It would be safe to assume that it would affect cornering. There's also other possible things below the treads that might matter - the weave of the casing for example may have been designed to deform in a specific way... and tyre technology has also evolved with the use of more than one rubber compound (not sure if yours is), both of which may have a bearing on rolling direction.

So it's not just the chamfer shapes on the middle knobs that matters. If that was the only issue, the chamfers will naturally form anyway from braking over time. The reason tyre manufacturers "pre-chamfer" the middle knobs is to reduce rolling resistance (you don't have to wait for it to get worn in), reduce weight (looks good on their spec sheet), and to ensure that the chamfers are even and uniform for the rider's benefit.

I don't know if you'll remember the good'ol days when some tyres had side wall inscriptions where there's an arrow that points both ways with < FRONT - REAR > markings? However, the front tyre always has the middle knob chamfers hitting the ground first. When you flip it over for the rear, the middle knob square faces hit the ground first. I really don't know why that is... but using this as an old-school rule, flipping or inverting the tyres as I remember, was done with tyres that had symmetrical side knobs.
.

 

[Gary]

Steve you must have invested about 50 hours in this tyre project this far?!

And that's just the admin

 

[Rosemount]

I have an Eliminator Black Diamond on the rear that is back to front .
Can`t tell any difference .

On the front wheel I think I would be more sensitive to .

 

[leftside]

ebikes are known to start going backwards if the tires are on back to front.

 

[Tooks]

Surely the simplest solution is to dismantle the wheel and rebuild it with the tyre/rim facing the right way?

 

[Herder000]

I

I'm not saying the quality of films has dropped off over the years .. well, maybe ... but I can't help but think this might be the next hollywood blockbuster !

"The T Y R E" ..... staring Brad Pitt as The thumbless wizard and James Earl Jones as the voice of "The T Y R E" ...

Famous quotes from the Movie "The T Y R E", by "The T Y R E" :

"Use Some Force, Steve, Use some Force"
"He will seal or die, Master!"
"If you will not turn to the Right Way, then perhaps she will!"
"You don't know the power of the Tyre Valve !"
"Your destiny lies with me, Rim Sealer !
"You are unwise to lower your pressures!"
"There is no air escape!
"Don't change me again"

Like this

Rubber (2010) ⭐ 5.7 | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror

1h 22m | 15

www.imdb.com

 

[Zimmerframe]

Like this

Rubber (2010) ⭐ 5.7 | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror

1h 22m | 15

www.imdb.com

Damn ... Who would have thought there was already a tyre genre in movie world !

I see we have no option but to flood the market with sequels and prequels and pretend we were first .. maybe have some spin off's ?


The T Y R E : A New Rim .... our original film with Brad Pitt and James Earl Jones as listed above
The T Y R E : The Puncture Strikes back
The T Y R E : Return of the Sealant

I think the done thing is then to go with some prequels ?

The T Y R E : The Phantom Air Loss
The T Y R E : Attack of the Thorns
The T Y R E : Revenge of the Slit

Once we've caught up .. we can jump back into where we left off with the first three

The T Y R E : Steve's Force awakens
The T Y R E : The Last Sealant
The T Y R E : The Rise of the Wizard

We'll probably have buggered up most of our options by then so we'll have to backtrack and find a bit of excitement anywhere we can :

Lever One : A T Y R E Story
Presta : A T Y R E Story

I'm guessing then we'll need to start earning some money from TV Series throwing in random tyres that may or may not have been in the films ..

The VREDESTEIN

Then maybe a couple of years later we'll focus back in on a main character from The T Y R E ! The famous shop mechanic who could mount anything with great control of Force : Get Disney to put it together.

Only-One Kanmounty

 

[Tribey]

You should be able to take that new tyre off and swap it around without losing much sealant.
Get it done, or it'll always be in your mind swinging into fast turns on slippery trails.

 

[Darren]

I think the angle of the outer blocks is to push any water outwards. Running it backwards would theoretically push water into the centre of the tyre which would decrease traction and braking effectiveness.
I wouldn't drive a truck on the motorway in the wet with backwards tyres but a bike in the woods I'd not care less.
Can it be worse than the last few weeks of the old tyre before it was replaced?

 

[Zimmerframe]

Can it be worse than the last few weeks of the old tyre before it was replaced?

He didn't have a tyre. Just 500 laps of black gorilla tape to pretend. Never had any punctures though. Was a pig to get off apparently.

 

[Jackware]

I'm worried Steve hasn't posted since yesterday evening, maybe he's decided to catch up on some DIY around the house today.